60 Minutes: Rep. Steve Scalise Describes Being Shot at Baseball Field

CBS News correspondent Nora O’Donnell interviews Rep. Steve Scalise for 60 Minutes. The 52-year-old congressman from Louisiana describes being shot on the morning of June 14, 2017, at a baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia. (Scalise was practicing with fellow Republicans for the annual Congressional Baseball Game which is played for charity.) After the shooting, Scalise spent most of the following four days unconscious in the hospital. His femur was shattered. His hip and pelvis had serious damage where the bullet went through. There was a lot of internal damage. With his wife of 13 years, Jennifer Scalise, by his side, the congressman tells O’Donnell with a laugh that the doctors did a great job in “rebuilding Humpty Dumpty.”

Scalise, the current U.S. House of Representatives Majority Whip, returned to work three months after the shooting. He has been and still is a gun rights supporter supporter. He said in December 2017 on Meet the Press, “Don’t try to put new laws in place that don’t fix these problems. They only make it harder for law-abiding citizens to own a gun.” When asked if the Second Amendment should be considered “unlimited,” Scalise replied, “It is.”

Scalise was shot by 66-year-old “left-wing activist” James Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois. Hodgkinson was armed with an SKS rifle and a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun; both of which were reportedly purchased legally. Officers shot Hodgkinson, who died later that day at the hospital.

The Congressional Baseball Game (a tradition since 1909!) was played the day after the shooting. Years past, the average attendance has been 10,000. In 2017, close to 25,000 people attended and more than $1 million was raised for a variety of charities within the D.C. area. P.S. The Democrats won the game, 11-2.60 Minutes airs Sundays at 7pm on CBS.